This research is comprised of four interrelated studies, all of them dealing with social and psychological adaptations of adults of various ages who reside in the metropolitan area of Chicago. The studies focus upon the physical environment, the symbolic environment, and the social environment, and upon the ways in which persons of diverse characteristics change their adaptational patterns as, on the one hand, they experience the normal transitions of adulthood (and as some face unexpected or disruptive life events), and on the other hand, as they experience change in their social environments--their residential neighborhoods, their work situations, their family situations. Two of the studies are based on large samples of individuals; two are based on three-generation family units, with the focus upon patterns of influence and similarities in symbolic behavior across generations.